The new case was announced by the provincial director of Health, Kavenaweteko Adelaide Malavo, who said it was one of two suspected cases of the disease registered in November and December in the municipality of Maquela do Zombo, which borders the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The first confirmed case in the country was diagnosed in Luanda, in November, in a 28-year-old Congolese woman, followed by her son, a minor.
According to epidemiologist Rosa Moreira, the second case was confirmed in the province of Luanda, in a two-year-old child, who is in the facilities of the Specialized Center for the Treatment of Endemics and Pandemics (CETEP), in a stable situation.
According to health authorities, measures to protect the population are underway to disinfect contaminated areas, identify and trace contacts, as well as in-depth epidemiological investigation.
The Ministry of Health recommends several preventive measures, such as frequently washing your hands with soap and water or disinfecting them with alcohol gel, not hunting or eating the meat of monkeys and rodents (rats, mice and squirrels), and avoiding direct exposure to flesh and blood of these animals. He also recommends that physical contact with people who show signs or symptoms of the disease be avoided.
The restriction covers materials and utensils used by people with signs or symptoms of the disease, including clothing, bedding, towels, plates, glasses and cutlery. It also recommends the use of appropriate gloves and clothing when handling animals, including the slaughter procedure.
MINSA also asks citizens, in the case of any of the symptoms of this disease, to immediately seek the nearest health unit. This new strain, called “clade 1b”, was detected in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in September 2023 and cases were later reported in several neighboring countries.
According to the WHO, this disease is more serious than the previous one and hence the need to classify it as a global emergency. The new variant can also be easily transmitted through close contact between two individuals, without the need for sexual contact, and is considered more dangerous than the 2022 variant.
In 2022, the WHO declared mpox a global emergency after spreading to more than 70 countries that had no history of contact with the virus until then, having mainly affected homosexual and bisexual men. Before then, the disease was mainly detected in occasional outbreaks in central and western Africa when people came into contact with infected wild animals.
